Rosie and the Originals

Angel Baby

Rosie Hamlin wrote the lyrics for "Angel Baby" as a
poem when she was 14 years old, still attending Mission Bay High School
in San Diego, California. When she was 15, she and some friends rented a
recording studio in San Marcos, California to record the song. The
resulting record had a very simplistic sound, and, in fact, was
eventually slightly damaged from excessive playing, so the group was
unable to find a record label to distribute it. Finally, bringing the
master to a department store, they convinced a manager to play it in the
listening booth of the store's music department. The song received
positive reactions from teenage listeners, and a scout from Highland
Records offered the group a recording contract, under the condition that
the company take possession of the master recording, and that David
Ponci be named as the author of the song, as he was the eldest member of
the group. "Angel Baby" made its radio debut in December 1960,
before the group had even received their contract. When the contract
finally came, Hamlin found that she was ineligible to collect record
royalties from the song because she was not listed as the songwriter.
This led to the group's break-up, and although Hamlin secured the
copyright to her music in 1961, decades of battles over royalties
followed.

This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
material is consistent with the "fair use" provisions contained in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976; the use of copyrighted material is
of a nonprofit, educational nature, intended for the sole purposes of
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